Another Division Title Reinforces Brewers' Regular-Season Greatness

With a Chicago Cubs loss against the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday afternoon, the Brewers clinched their third straight NL Central title and their fourth in five seasons. Milwaukee will play in the postseason for the seventh time in eight years. Since 2017, its 761 regular-season wins trail only the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League.

The shape of that success has varied throughout the years, typically to maximize which players, coaches, and executives are most available to a team in baseball's smallest market. In 2018, the Brewers fell one win shy of a pennant with a patchwork rotation and a great bullpen, and by contorting their defensive positioning with shifts to pack their lineup with as many power hitters as possible. In 2021, excellent starting pitching carried them to their next division championship. The last two seasons, they've fashioned their run-prevention around elite defense and their offense around taking extra bases to compete with teams who slug more than they do.

Losing key figures has not stopped the train, either. Over time, the Brewers lost president of baseball operations David Stearns and manager Craig Counsell; traded away elite players on expiring contracts; and let others depart in free agency. After all that, this year's team is two wins away from setting a new franchise record for single-season excellence.

Given the circumstances early in the year, it's perhaps the most impressive entry in this era of Milwaukee baseball. The Brewers traveled to New York with an entire starting rotation on the injured list and set a dubious MLB record, becoming the first team in history to be outscored by 32 runs through its first four games. By May 17, they had suffered eight blowout losses of at least seven runs in their first 46 games and were four games under .500. Manager Pat Murphy was benching starters and calling repeated postgame team meetings to address fundamentally unsound performances.

With nearly a third of the season in the books, the Brewers did not resemble a contending team. They quickly turned things around, to carry the best record in baseball into the final week of the regular season and control their own destiny for the top seed in the postseason.

Activations of previously injured players, in-season acquisitions, and promotions phased out the pitchers responsible for the early-season blowouts. On offense, Isaac Collins, Brice Turang, and Sal Frelick enjoyed breakouts, and Andrew Vaughn turned his season around in place of an injured Rhys Hoskins. The mistakes gave way to some of the tightest fundamental play in the league. The Brewers haven't looked back since.

With another playoff appearance, the club continues to check off the first step in its blueprint for winning its first World Series. They're getting yet another bite at the apple. Next up comes the challenge of advancing in the postseason.

For all their regular-season success, the Brewers have not won a playoff series since 2018, which has understandably become a contentious shortcoming for a fanbase now expecting more from a perennial contender. October baseball is chaotic, and bypassing the three-game Wild Card round and heading straight to the five-game NLDS could help the Brewers in that regard. The reality, however, remains that they must perform better under the bright lights than they have in recent years.

Perhaps this will be the year the baseball gods smile on the Brewers and reward the front office's approach. Legitimate questions remain about whether this team can scrap its way to postseason wins, particularly if the offense fails to hit for enough power in a small sample. For now, though, this group deserves credit for overcoming the many obstacles thrown its way to continue the golden age of Milwaukee baseball. Regular-season success may not guarantee a title, but that shouldn't make it any less impressive.